Fundraising: A Guide to High-Impact Careers

Every organization needs funding to operate, especially those aiming to make a large-scale impact. For nonprofits, this funding usually comes from individuals and organizations willing to donate. Fundraisers are tasked with reaching out to these potential donors, building relationships with them, and inspiring them to contribute to their organization. Through their efforts, fundraisers enable organizations to function and grow, supporting new staff, programs, and activities.

We believe that fundraising can be a highly promising path for people with the right skillset.

Path overview

What do we mean by fundraising?

By fundraising, we’re referring to roles dedicated to bringing in money for nonprofit organizations, where donations and grants are often the primary (or only) source of revenue.

Fundraising activities can generally be categorized into a few main types:

Grants from foundations

For many charities working in high-priority cause areas like global health and animal welfare, significant funding often comes from philanthropic foundations, trusts, family offices, as well as governments. These organizations have large pools of money to distribute to organizations whose work aligns with their goals and values. Fundraisers solicit these grants via writing proposals, and may also be responsible for reporting back to grantmakers and maintaining a relationship with them.

Major donor fundraising

Another significant source of funding comes from major donors—high net-worth individuals who make large contributions. Fundraisers typically have multiple meetings with these donors, explaining their organization’s work and ensuring alignment with the donor’s goals. They may also be responsible for identifying potential major donors and reaching out to them.

Corporate fundraising

Corporate fundraising involves soliciting support from private-sector companies, who may make large donations to the charity or provide other support. Corporate fundraising often shares similarities with major donor fundraising in regards to fostering relationships and ensuring that their goals are aligned.

Public fundraising

Public fundraising encompasses various activities aimed at soliciting smaller donations from a larger number of people. There are quite a few methods of public fundraising, such as online marketing through advertising campaigns and newsletters, to in-person fundraising at events or even on streets or doorsteps. Fundraisers may be responsible for developing marketing materials, writing newsletters, organizing and participating in events, or helping to coordinate these activities.

Legacy fundraising

Legacies are gifts left to charities through wills. These are usually large donations left by people who care deeply about a cause—often due to personal experience. Fundraisers guide donors through the process of leaving gifts in wills and create promotional materials for legacy donations.

It’s also worth noting that some of the tasks outlined above are sometimes also performed by communications professionals. Though these are distinct career paths, there can be overlap—and those interested in fundraising careers may also be interested in communications careers for similar reasons.

How promising is fundraising as a career path?

The case for fundraising is fairly simple: raising funds is a critical component in an organization’s success, allowing it to operate and expand. In many cases, successful fundraising can be the difference between an organization existing or not.

Even when fundraising doesn’t directly determine an organization’s survival, additional funds can significantly enhance its ability to scale its activities—amplifying the positive impact it can achieve. The more funds raised, the greater the reach and influence of the organization.

On top of this, fundraising can bring other benefits. For instance, public fundraising and marketing can help raise awareness of the broader issue your organization works on, even among those who don’t end up donating. 

Additionally, fundraising is a career that’s relevant to all of the cause areas we’ve identified as being high-priority (as well as others we haven’t yet covered).

Even though we think fundraising is a promising path to impact, this comes with a caveat: the impact of a fundraising career is closely tied to the effectiveness of the organization and its programs. If you’re bringing in money to fund programs that aren’t helpful, then no matter how successfully you raise funds, your work won’t help the world either. 
This is important to bear in mind. It means that to have a real positive impact as a fundraiser, it’s essential to work for an organization that sincerely cares about impact. (Our job board lists many roles that we’ve vetted and believe may be impactful – including fundraising roles.)

This is especially crucial for fundraising careers since the money you raise for your organization might have been donated elsewhere if you hadn’t secured it. Therefore, if you raise substantial funds for an organization that is ineffective or even below average, it can actually cause more harm than good. In this case, a skilled fundraiser can inadvertently divert significant resources away from more deserving causes. That’s why it’s vital to identify and support organizations that are exceptionally promising in this path.

The type of fundraising a role focuses on can also influence how promising this career path can be. Generally, roles that have higher leverage, such as those that solicit large donations from major donors or foundations, or those that can bring in many smaller donations through scalable marketing campaigns, are more likely to lead to significant positive impact. In contrast, roles that involve soliciting face-to-face donations (such as at events or on the street) may be less promising. While these roles can still bring in important funds, they generally complement the larger-scale efforts of others.

Additionally, organizations that demonstrate highly cost-effective methods are more likely to secure funding from foundations that prioritize impactful initiatives. Therefore, some of the most impactful fundraising roles will likely include working on grant proposals, though this isn’t a strict requirement.

Fundraisers may also find particularly promising opportunities with organizations that are most constrained by a lack of funds. For instance, organizations that advocate for animals in factory farms are often discussed as having a particularly high need for funding—a sentiment backed up by a survey conducted by Animal Advocacy Careers.

Overall, however, fundraising can play an important part in helping an organization succeed and scale up its operations. Though there are caveats to bear in mind, a fundraising professional’s ability to amplify the impact of their organization can make this a highly promising career path.

Is fundraising a good fit for you?

What is needed to be successful

Here are a couple of traits that indicate you might excel in a fundraising role:

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – Whether you’re writing grants, developing marketing materials, speaking at events, or talking to high-net-worth individuals, strong communication skills are essential. Often, you’ll also need to develop and maintain relationships with major donors and grantmakers. While not every fundraising role requires face-to-face interaction (especially if your role focuses on fundraising from trusts and foundations), effective communication in whichever medium you use is vital.

Strong organizational competence – Fundraising roles typically require a high degree of organizational precision, as you’ll likely need to juggle a few simultaneous responsibilities that are often operationally complex, like keeping track of donors and funding targets, organizing events, running marketing campaigns, and even coordinating other fundraisers. This is especially true in smaller organizations (as many nonprofits tend to be), where you might be the only fundraising professional on the team.

Who would be satisfied in this role?

Here are some considerations to bear in mind on whether you’d likely enjoy a career in fundraising:

Comfortable with high-stakes interactions – When dealing with grantmakers and high-net-worth donors, your likelihood of receiving funding may depend on your ability to quickly impress them. Navigating these interactions requires both professional and personal finesse, and some may find this intimidating (though these interactions aren’t applicable to all fundraising roles). Fundraisers focused on legacy donations will also need to navigate highly sensitive and conversational territory.

Willing to take a lower salary than for-profit equivalents – Fundraisers exist primarily within the nonprofit sector, which on average offers lower salaries than the private sector opportunities with comparable skills and experience. For instance, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that nonprofit roles in management and professional positions are paid nearly $5 less per hour than in the private sector (accounting for benefits). Because of this, this path may not be a strong fit for those pursuing high levels of compensation—though salaries are still likely to be comfortable.

Strategies and next steps

Getting into the field

It’s not always clear how to enter a new field. Though there are often many ways into any career path, here are some pointers for how to get started in fundraising:

• Degree backgrounds – Entry-level fundraising roles typically have few strict requirements on educational background (other than having a bachelor’s degree or some prior experience). Nonetheless, degree subjects that are likely to be helpful include marketing, business, and other subjects that involve both organization and communication.
• College alumni fundraising – Many colleges and universities offer roles for students to raise funds from alumni. Although the most promising fundraising roles might look a little different than the experience you’d gain this way, (and we generally wouldn’t recommend fundraising for universities as an impactful path), this is a good way for those in college to develop some career capital within fundraising and demonstrate concrete experience for employers.
• Experience with relevant tools – When applying for a fundraising role, it’s often desirable to have experience with digital tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs and email service providers. There’s an array of options for each of these types of software, but experience in one is likely to transfer to others and can set you apart from other candidates. If you haven’t had any real-world experience with these tools, free online courses are widely available.
• Volunteering and internships – Because fundraising roles exist almost exclusively in the nonprofit sector, volunteering and internship opportunities are common. These may provide good options to test out your fit for this path. However, it’s worth noting that many volunteering opportunities are more likely to involve face-to-face fundraising (such as at events), and may not provide insight into the more critical fundraising work that drives larger volumes of funding, which could be more impactful.

Excelling in the field

Grow and maintain your network – Fundraising is a particularly people-centric career path. Meeting people and growing your contacts is crucial for success in most fundraising roles. Networking can be a great tool to meet potential donors, develop corporate partnerships, motivate others to spread the word about your organization and discover opportunities for professional development. Effective networking strategies include attending events (both virtual and in-person), online networking through LinkedIn (or even cold emails), and participating in professional fundraising communities—some of which are listed in the additional resources section at the end of the article.

Understand your cause – To make a compelling case to potential donors, you need to be able to clearly articulate the significance of your organization’s cause area and activities. This is especially important when seeking large donations as potential funders (like foundations) will need a detailed understanding of how the funds will be used and the effect they’ll have. A genuine passion for your organization’s cause and a deep understanding of its theory of change will likely enhance your credibility and effectiveness. 

Maintain honesty and transparency – It may be tempting to (intentionally or not) exaggerate your organization’s successes in order to raise more money. Though framing your organization in a positive light is an important part of good fundraising, there’s a fine line between generating enthusiasm in your potential donors and misleading them. Erring on the side of caution is the best policy here, in order to both conduct yourself ethically and avoid risking your organization’s reputation.